Dublin

Hello adoring fans! I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. The truth is that I caught a cold and since then by the time of the day that we get to a place with internet I really just want to go to sleep. Also, we haven’t had internet access everywhere (shocking!).

First, let me just say that being sick in a foreign country is not fun. You may not know this- I certainly didn’t realize it- but you have certain rituals you do when you feel bad to make yourself feel better. For instance, I drink copious amounts of apple juice and green tea, and suck on jolly ranchers to make my throat feel better. Here there I don’t have the brand of green tea I like, they don’t seem to sell any hard candy at all (!) and the apple juice is carbonated. Also, rather than sleeping a lot and watching Spongebob Squarepants I have to ride planes and buses and/or hike in order to arrive at some new destination every day. Oh, the trials of being me.

Just to be clear, I have a really minor cold- I had a sore throat and I’m a little tired but it’s really nothing to write home about. Heh.

So, two days ago we arrived in Dublin, Ireland. We caught a bus from the airport to the city, then found our hostel (and only got a little lost on the way!). When we got there we found, to our delight, that we’d been upgraded from a six person dorm room to a private room with its own bathroom. Hooray!

Our first order of business was some food, since, as Alan has already described, we hadn’t had much to eat for several days. We found some dive that sold cheap burgers and stuff and had what was maybe the best meal of my life. Alan had fish and chips and I had a chicken fillet sandwhich. Mmmm… after two days of all yogurt all the time it was heaven.

Then, after a nap (I am sick after all) we went a-wandering in the streets of Dublin. I like Dublin. It’s not dirty or crowded, and the narrow streets make it feel old. I liked just wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere. The street singers here are like one thousand times better than the ones in the subway in NY. After some wandering we found the castle by accident and just had time to take in the cathedral before someone came to shoo us out so he could close up. We also found a second hand shop and a 2 euro store (which seems to be the equivalent to the dollar store). We did not buy anything- though I did find this really awesome jacket in the thrift store and it took every ounce of will not to buy it (I do not need more weight to carry!).

Then we rambled back in the direction of the hotel, found a grocery store on the way (they have Lidl here, just like in Germany J) and bought some supplies for dinner, and lunch and dinner the next day. The next morning we ran to the bus station and headed off for Galway en route to Ballyvaughan. And we didn’t even get lost once.